Photo provided by Altman, Rogers & Co.

embers of the Associated General Contractors, or AGC, of Alaska made an impressive showing this year at the Best of Alaska Business Awards, or BOAB, sponsored by Alaska Business magazine. From general contractors to cargo and logistics providers to bank and credit unions and accounting firms, AGC members were recognized for outstanding work in twenty-two categories.

A few companies took home more than one award or continued their winning ways by winning for the second—or even tenth—year in a row. The top three winners were awarded the Denali, St. Elias and Foraker awards, in order of votes received.

CEO Grant Todd says the firm, now in its 34th year, truly cares about its customers and its employees.

“Even though we have thousands of clients from every corner of the state, we try to treat them as individuals and help them out in any way we can in a kind and efficient manner,” says Todd.

Even during crunch times like tax season, the company’s employees make clients a priority, working 60 to 80 hours a week to make sure that work is completed in a timely manner. Competitive salaries and benefits, bonuses and generous vacation policies, and maternity/paternity leave make it worth it to employees, who also enjoy half-day Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The staff can also take part in a company softball team, potlucks, fishing outings, barbecues, and community-focused philanthropy.

“We try to strike a work/life balance,” says Todd of the family-oriented firm. “We work hard but we also play hard. We’ve worked hard to build a good, fun culture that is also inclusive.”

Photo provided by First National Bank Alaska

“We audit a large number of nonprofits, so we try to help them the most,” says Todd, noting that the company recently closed its Anchorage office for a day to spend time with the athletes at Special Olympics Alaska and also supports the nonprofit’s yearly auction.

“In the past, we’ve helped out on Christmas Eve morning at Bean’s Café to help them prep for Christmas dinner the next day, and every year we have a big team that participates in the Anchorage Chamber Citywide Cleanup,” he adds. “Our other offices donate to their local communities as well.”

While the company finishes in the top one or two places in the BOAB awards consistently—including winning Best Accounting Firm every year since the category’s inception—Todd says the company doesn’t take the wins for granted.

“It’s a great honor when your staff and clients recognize your hard work and vote for you,” he says. “It’s really special when you see a client on the street and they say, “Hey! I voted for you!’”

“I believe that our workforce and our culture are our superpowers,” says Senior Administrative Director Steven Patin, who notes that First National has won the Best Bank/Credit Union award numerous times. “We have a great workforce because of our culture, and our workforce creates that culture. It’s a symbiotic relationship.”

He adds that, while the bank is up to date on the latest technology, it is also “delightfully old school” in a certain way.

“When someone goes into a branch, they are greeted with a smile. We have adequate staffing so they’re not waiting in line. Our people ask the right questions and try to anticipate customers’ needs. This traditional feel sits on top of a complex and sophisticated operation.”

First National has won the Best Place to Work award ten years in a row, which Patin credits to the fact that the bank offers extremely generous benefits and learning and development resources that appeal to employees at different stages of life.

Photo provided by Alaska Business

“In a place like Alaska, reputation goes a long way,” he adds. “We all know somebody who knows somebody who banks at or works for First National. Word-of-mouth is huge for us.”

Community involvement is also important to the bank, which provides approximately $1 million a year in donations, activities, sponsorships, and in-kind contributions. Recipients range from high school sports and activities through Alaska School Activities Association to Big Brothers Big Sisters Alaska to the United Way, University of Alaska and more.

“First National is Alaska’s community bank; if we were not contributing to the community, we wouldn’t be true to who we are,” Patin says. “We do this not only on an individual level through our employees but collectively as an institution.”

In 2024, Matson contributed $1.4 million in cash and in-kind services in Alaska to entities such as Alaskan for Litter Prevention and Recycling, Matson’s Caring for Alaska program and the Prince William Science Center. Wells Fargo contributed approximately $4.8 million to Alaska over the past four years, with its employees volunteering 6,700 hours of community service.

Readers also nominated AGC companies ASRC Energy Services, ConocoPhillips Alaska, First National Bank Alaska, GCI, Global Credit Union, Hilcorp, Hotel Captain Cook, Northrim Bank, and PeopleAK for this notable honor.

• Matson, 2025 Best Corporate Citizen
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 2025 Best Corporate Citizen

dequate roads and safe public facilities such as schools are a must, as far as publicly funded projects go, but many would argue that recreational facilities are vital as well. In fact, voters in various municipalities have often chosen to pay a slightly increased property tax rate for the opportunity to have inviting places to access the outdoors.

A lot of park-related projects are happening in Anchorage and around the state right now, from new bike and skate parks in Anchorage to a significant bluff erosion measure that will result in improved fishing access in Kenai.

The Anchorage Parks and Recreation Department is currently updating the Recreational Trails Plan and gathering public feedback through community workshops, surveys, and interactive maps, enabling stakeholders to contribute to the future development of local trails.

“Capital improvements are generally funded through municipal bonds. We have a capital improvement program that evaluates community needs from all the community councils in Anchorage every year or every few years,” explains Nicolette Dent, park planner at the Municipality of Anchorage. “The community council ranks projects that are most important to them, and that helps us put together a funding program. Each year we propose something to the administration and then it usually goes through a little bit of back-and-forth in discussions. Occasionally the administration will add projects or take out projects depending on priorities.”

The Anchorage Parks Department typically has numerous projects in various stages of development. “It varies based on funding and what’s going on, but we are usually quite busy. We usually have so many projects that we can’t get everything we want to get through. There’s never a shortage of things for us to work on,” says Dent. Two current projects, out of several the department is working on, are the Service Singletrack Trail project at Hillside Park and bridge and trail improvements along the multi-use Campbell Creek Trail. Both are nearing completion.

“Service High School, Abbott Road, and the Hilltop ski area serve as trail access points. The trail is really popular, and this new series of loops spans about five and a half miles, featuring beginner and intermediate flow trails with some downhill jump lines and some more challenging options for riders,” says Dent. “Working with STA, we decided to make a series of loops in one direction so it provides a better experience for everyone. Mountain bikers won’t have to worry as much about passing or encountering someone in their path. They can focus on riding safely and avoiding wildlife encounters.”

Designed exclusively for bikers, the trails display signs noting that hiking is not recommended.

“What’s really cool about this project is, it’s like this cool progressive system where you can choose your own adventure. You can avoid the more challenging features, but as you get more comfortable, you might decide to try them out,” notes Dent. “The trail also provides a beginner area for kids to explore as they build their biking skills.”

The Campbell Creek watershed represents a valuable natural resource, offering extensive recreational activities, fishing opportunities, inherent flood control benefits, salmon viewing, and high-quality habitat for aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. The Campbell Creek Trail is included in Anchorage’s Moose Loop route, linking the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail, and Ship Creek Trail to create a 32-mile loop that outlines the shape of a moose across the Anchorage Bowl.

Due to its popularity, the Campbell Creek Trail has undergone considerable wear over time, making a series of improvements necessary. Neeser Construction, Inc. is currently working on the fifth and final stage of this project.

“The Campbell Creek bridge replacement and trail reroute project went through several phases. As a major thoroughfare, it needed a lot of love. Creeks all over town are changing water levels and, as a result, we are seeing increased erosion events. For Campbell Creek, we had to realign the trail for the new bridge,” Dent explains. “The former wooden bridge was replaced with a 70-foot steel bridge and the contractors added quite a bit of riprap under the new bridge to shore it up against the creek’s changing directions and the water flow. The contractor also raised the height of the new bridge to accommodate flooding.”

In 2019, USACE published a Kenai Bluffs Bank Stabilization Section feasibility study that recommended building a protective berm at the bluff toe. The height of the bluffs range between 55 and 70 feet, while the face is receding at a rate of about three feet per year. The project has been the top capital priority for the City of Kenai for decades, as continued erosion threatens homes and businesses that line the bluff.

In September 2023, representatives from USACE and the City of Kenai formally executed the “Project Partnership Agreement” at a ceremony attended by Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor and Governor Mike Dunleavy. This agreement facilitated continued progress on the project. In February 2024, the USACE–Alaska District awarded Western Marine Construction of Seattle the construction contract.

Western Marine is building a protective rock berm roughly a mile long, running from the mouth of the Kenai River nearly to the city dock, along the north bank of the Kenai River. The revetment is designed to shield the lower portion of the bluff from storm damage and stabilize erosion along the newly protected shoreline. When construction is complete, the stones at the toe of the bluff should prevent tides and river currents from taking the bank material, allowing the upper slope to transform over the next 15 years from a steep and barren bluff to a stable and vegetated riverbank.

The construction effort requires the placement of about 33,880 cubic yards of armor rock, 4,500 cubic yards of crushed rock, and 12,380 cubic yards of gravel base. The federal government is funding 90 percent of the $19 million project’s cost share under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with the City of Kenai responsible for the remaining 10 percent.

The project has meant additional river traffic, including loaded rock barges traveling to the site, offloading for several days, and being swapped with a freshly loaded barge. The City of Kenai has kept river users informed of updates on its Public Works project page, posting regular announcements of when barges are scheduled to travel to and from the project site. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is also communicating information it receives about the project such as barge movements in Cook Inlet on daily announcements.

“This project is an example of our commitment to working alongside our partners and stakeholders to find engineering solutions to coastal erosion problems in Alaska,” says Colonel Jeffrey Palazzini, USACE–Alaska District commander. “Together, we will build innovative, climate-resilient infrastructure that will protect communities and ecosystems for many years to come.”

The project is expected to be complete by February 2026.

any contracting businesses need personalized, professional assistance with tax and financial planning. Finding a company to handle this is critical to maintaining smooth operations. That’s where Fairbanks-based Chinook Accounting is ready to step in.

“We realized that there’s a demand for this contract controller position,” cofounder and co-owner Caitlin Deutsch says. “A position that has higher-level education and accounting that a company might not have a need or budget to hire someone full-time for, but still is really needed. And that’s where we can fill the gap and be that fractional controller.”

Deutsch’s partner Hailey Gundersen explains, “We are this solutions-focused firm where it’s not just, ‘These are our services and this is all we’ll do.’ We’ll sit with our clients and figure out where they’re at in terms of their accounting work and how they use their financial information.”

The two women have deep roots in Alaska and Fairbanks. Deutsch grew up there, while Gundersen, who was raised in Northern California, had family in the Golden Heart City and frequently visited in summers.

Deutsch headed south for college, receiving her accounting degree from University of Portland, and worked for Big Four accounting firm KPMG before returning to Fairbanks. Gundersen, a certified public accountant, or CPA, went the other direction, earning an economics degree with an accounting minor from UAF and obtaining her CPA license shortly after graduating.

The two, who have been acquainted since childhood, both established themselves professionally in Fairbanks working for small firms and Native corporations. They also knew each other through volunteering their time with local nonprofits. The two first considered joining forces when a friend offered to sell them her business.

“We entertained it and then had conversations with her about what it was like for her being on that side of the spectrum and not an employee, and it sounded very appealing to us,” Gundersen says.

When the owner sold the business to a different buyer, they decided to start their own. “We had both decided that we wanted to be in public accounting as opposed to the private side, working for a company in their accounting department,” Deutsch explains. They launched Chinook, she adds, because, “It was really apparent that there was a huge need here in Fairbanks.”

Gundersen says the two of them keep abreast of the rapidly changing tax and regulatory laws their clients need to be aware of. These, she says, include “anything that would help the business stay compliant in the sense of state filings, payroll reports—quarterly and annual for both federal and state—as well as any federal regulations that they need to stay current on, which can vary depending on the business type.”

Deutsch says changes made by the private Financial Accounting Standards Board also impact what business owners need to know.

“A few years ago, the accounting codifications had a large update, which was called ASC 606,” she explains. “That changed a lot about how contractors recognize revenue. I did a lot of my work in public accounting, helping clients adopt that new standard. So, my experience has lent to being able to serve that client base.”

Therefore, she adds, “It made sense to join AGC because that’s where our client base is. It’s a good way to connect with those clients. We are able to serve the construction community because we do have a bookkeeping aspect to our business. And we’re a firm that will work in Sage, which is a highly favored accounting program with contractors.”

Contractors aren’t the only ones happy with Chinook. Chris Chambers, owner of Harley-Davidson Farthest North Outpost in Fairbanks says, “We count on Chinook Accounting to manage our internal accounting. They’ve invested and customized their services to fit our business and are a pleasure to work with.”

Gundersen says that as owners of Chinook Accounting, she and Deutsch are “very solutions oriented. And we’re Alaskans. We like serving Alaskan businesses, small businesses, and contractors. We enjoy what we do. We like to be of service.”

By David A. James

hen planning large projects, developers need a basic layout for the site and often assistance with essential permitting. Fairbanks-based 3-Tier Alaska: Property & Land Surveying can help get things underway.

“We specialize in civil and environmental engineering and land surveying,” 3-Tier Alaska Owner and CEO Nicholas Ringstad says.

3-Tier Alaska is a longstanding company that offers expert specialized work in all three areas. The company also performs civil engineering, which he says is “mostly related to residential road design and septic system design.”

Additionally, the company has added environmental engineering and consulting to its list of services. “We do a large amount of environmental remediation,” Ringstad says. “Soil screening, remediation, wetlands delineations and permitting. A lot of NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] and EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] permitting as well.”

“He was a dual-licensed professional engineer and professional land surveyor,” the younger Ringstad says of his father. “I would guess 75 percent plus of his revenue was in the survey world. He kept the business pretty small. It was really my only job growing up, even through college.”

“That mix of backgrounds with business and economics plus engineering actually turned out to be great in terms of being a business owner,” he says.

In 2018, as his father neared retirement, Ringstad decided to buy the company. That same year he also purchased Northland Surveying, and in 2021 he acquired Travis Peterson Environmental Consulting, which added the environmental component of their business.

“We stair-stepped into where we are now, which is twenty full-time people and six or seven part-time people,” Ringstad says.

3-Tier Alaska operates state-wide, from the Aleutian Islands all the way up to North Slope and everywhere in between.

Often, Ringstad says, “a customer will buy a big chunk of property and contact us.” For the engineering side of the job, he says, “We’ll design road work. And sometimes the developer will say, ‘Hey could you also design individual septic systems?’”

The company ensures that all of this is done in accordance with municipal, state, and federal environmental regulations, which are frequently changed and updated.

“We did a lot of that layout and design. We did a lot of survey work. We secured a nationwide permit for that new boat ramp on the river. And it’s been wildly successful,” Ringstad says.

Ramras says 3-Tier Alaska did all the civil work and permitting for a reindeer viewing area, motor coach parking, the new Love Alaska Hotel, and the necessary roads and structures within a small area. “They helped us create a Mr. Rogers Neighborhood project on a skinny 10-acre site along the Chena River,” Ramras says.

Calling 3-Tier Alaska “the best civil engineering outfit in the state of Alaska,” Ramras says, “Their work was brimming with imagination.” He adds that it is “imaginative, competent, friendly, and fun. We give them an A+ all around.”

The new building will accommodate up to 289 students, an increase in capacity of more than a hundred students over the current building. The original school, built for 170 students, currently has 215 students enrolled.

“We’re well over capacity,” says Charlie Peters, the Inlet View project manager with the district’s capital planning and construction department. “We’re expecting—because of the International Baccalaureate program that is within the elementary, since this is the only elementary school with that program—that we will see more students going to the school.”

“Right now, the school only has a gym slash multi-purpose room—one space, and typically our elementary schools have two spaces: one multi-purpose room, one gym,” Peters says. “We’re giving them that in the design we have.”

Unlike other Anchorage schools receiving targeted upgrades, Inlet View required a full rebuild due to its age and outdated systems. The existing school does not meet a handful of education and safety standards, such as no sprinkler system for fire protection and no line of sight between the office and the entry. The infrastructure of the current school is past its life expectancy, with more than 550 work order repair requests in 2018, and has had temporary out-buildings for more than 15 years.

Some elements of the existing school will carry over to the new building, including a mural on the west face of the gym.

“For us, this project is really personal,” says Larry Embly, project manager and co-owner of Circle. “I know friends who went to Inlet View. Now we’re taking that school down and building something new—it feels like giving back to the community.”

“We’ve got a big family that works here—my dad, uncle, cousin and now my son,” Embly says. “It’s special to be working on something that our kids or grandkids might go to one day.”

Embly said the project has been one of the best Circle has worked on.

“Cornerstone [General Contractors] is extremely high on safety,” he said. “Every day, we know we’re building something safe and lasting. This project was a team effort from the start.”

Peters agreed that the school has been shaped not just by engineers and contractors but by the people it will serve. In addition to Peters, the design committee included community members, staff, PTA members, and the school principal.

“I would say that community involvement is very important on these projects,” Peters says. “Making sure that not just people that are affiliated with the school are aware of it but people that live in the community, and then not just during the design phase but being available during construction. When we’re out there compacting asphalt, or dirt, or just building the building, I think being open and available is important.”

Hornack says the project has been meeting with the local community council on a quarterly basis, or whenever there are updates, to keep neighbors up to date.

“We try to meet with [the community] to make sure they’re in the loop and can tell all their neighbors what’s going on and why we’re doing what we’re doing,” Hornack says.

he employees of Equipment Source Inc. Alaska, or ESI, know how to keep customers working through cold Arctic winters.

For 25 years, ESI has manufactured customized equipment and provided commercial and rental options for the oil, mining, construction, agriculture, telecommunications and other industries. The company has experienced significant growth, particularly in the past decade, and company leaders continue to innovate solutions for Alaska’s most challenging problems.

“The team decided there was a way to do this better,” says ESI Vice President Nick Ferree. “That’s how our flagship heater, the ES700, was born and now there are over 1,000 in operation on the North Slope alone.”

“We have a reliable lineup of equipment that we support, cradle to grave,” says Ferree. “We’re here to find solutions. A lot of manufacturers build stuff that they don’t support after a few years. That’s not acceptable to us. Even if it’s 20 years old, we’ll find the part to fix it and keep it going.”

Ferree says talking with customers is vital to helping them. He says the internet has been good for marketing and customer research, but an in-person conversation is the best way to ensure the customer rents or purchases the best solution for their project. A customer may have a solution in mind, but there may be a more efficient or cost-effective option available.

“A lot of our customers on the slope have a limited construction and delivery window; whether they need to make a summer barge schedule, winter ice road season or flight schedules,” says Ferree. “If you miss one of those deadlines, then your only option is to hire a Herc [a civilian version of the C-130 Hercules military cargo transport airplane], which is very expensive.”

He adds that many companies from the Lower 48 don’t realize that, while a repair job in the states might involve a technician loading tools into a vehicle and driving to the location, in road-inaccessible areas a technician will have to fly in either by plane or helicopter.

“The ESI team is the best in the business,” says Nielsen. “They are attentive, thorough, and make things happen. I would recommend ESI over any other equipment rental agency in Alaska.”

“Onyx Drilling has purchased several pieces of equipment from ESI, and we feel that their equipment line cannot be beat,” says DePeter. “Couple that with an amazing group of people, and you have a winning team.”

Ferree says ESI has spent the last eight years in a growth phase. ESI’s 12-acre Fairbanks campus has expanded over the last four years with the addition of a dedicated service facility, 10,000 square-foot warm storage warehouse and an additional 10,000 square-feet of manufacturing space. In 2023, it relocated its Anchorage location to a larger 16,000 square-foot building at the corner of Dowling and C Street that allowed for more room in the service shop, an expanded equipment yard, and customer service areas. Ferree says ESI plans to continue growing its team, expanding equipment rental options in the Anchorage market, and looking for new opportunities. In the meantime, the staff at ESI will continue to innovate designs, manufacture new products that keep the industry working all year round, and make sure customers are outfitted with equipment that is reliable in Alaska’s cold weather.

hen visitors step into the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ new planetarium, they will be greeted by more than just a high-tech projection system and a state-of-the-art dome. They will be entering a space that was decades in the making—a dream for scientists, educators, and students.

The Fairbanks community has long wanted a permanent place to bring the wonders of the Arctic sky, the aurora borealis, and the universe indoors. This $9 million, 5,700-square foot facility, which is expected to open to the public in February, will be the northernmost planetarium in North America.

Located on the west side of the University of Alaska Museum of the North, the theater will feature an 11-meter dome, two projectors, four image-generation computers, theater-quality surround sound, and specialized lighting systems. The sixty-five-seat venue will host astronomy classes, public programs, and immersive experiences that go beyond stargazing.

“Every summer, tourists wander into the Geophysical Institute and ask, ‘Where’s the aurora?’” says McCoy. “In winter, we can point them to the real thing, but in summer, with the 24-hour daylight, they’re out of luck. A planetarium means we can show them the aurora, along with the science, culture, and beauty behind it any time of year.”

This idea wasn’t new. Fairbanks residents have advocated for a planetarium for at least four decades, says McCoy. Former UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers pushed for funding when he was a state legislator more than forty years ago. Multiple feasibility studies came and went without a green light.

What finally brought the planetarium to life was an anonymous donor’s commitment to fund the brick-and-mortar portion of the project. Additional contributions soon followed. The MJ Murdock Charitable Trust pledged nearly $500,000 for the projection and sound system. In addition, longtime UAF donors Sarah and Cary Keller committed $125,000 to fund the planetarium manager position.

McCoy says he sees the project as a tool for both outreach and research. Beyond serving tourists and the local community, the facility will be used for K-12 field trips, university courses, and scientific presentations.

With the software and technology that’s being installed, the planetarium can entertain and educate visitors about astronomy as well as chemistry, biology, glaciology, and volcanology.

“We can pull up a molecule, spin it around on the dome, and make science come alive,” says McCoy.

Preliminary demolition began in late 2024, including the relocation of an Alaska Native totem pole from the construction site to a protected location inside the museum. Official groundbreaking took place in April 2025 and completion is targeted for late December 2025.

“A planetarium is a specialized facility,” says Lindsey. “They require unique equipment that requires technical installation. Keeping all [stakeholders] included on the schedule and the planning process to have the construction side complete for dome installation has been very important.”

Lindsey says consistent collaboration has kept the project on track.

“This project was very much a team approach,” says Lindsey. “We’ve worked hard on value engineering and design to fit within the designated budget. Everyone involved worked hard to make the pieces come together.”

The construction brought together a wide range of skilled subcontractors, each contributing specialized expertise to the project.

Aaron Plumbing & Heating Company tackled the mechanical systems, the electrical work was completed by Fullford Electric Inc., and Swanson Steel Erectors Inc. and JD Steel Co., Inc. took care of the structure steel, meaning the building represents coordinated effort across multiple trades.

Great Northwest, Inc. handled site work, while Rady Concrete Construction and Gundersen Painting, Inc. were hired to add finishing touches inside and out. A&A Roofing Company, Inc. is working to ensure the building is weather tight, and Commercial Contractors, Inc., Elite Acoustics, and GMW Fire Protection are taking charge of interior systems and safety. BEK of Alaska, Inc. and Siemens Industry, Inc. are also providing support.

For Lindsey, these partnerships are essential.

“We can bring all that into the dome,” says McCoy.

It’s not just a place to look at the stars. It’s a place to tell Alaska’s stories. Programs will include astronomy shows, cultural presentations, and immersive science films. One highlight is Cultural Connections, a collection of films produced by UAF featuring interviews with Alaska Native elders about the aurora, along with song, dance, and animation.

Classroom integration will be another major focus. For years, UAF has been operating portable planetariums around Alaska. The inflatable domes are popular, says McCoy, but they wear out and can only reach so many schools.

“This fixed facility means we can welcome everyone in, year-round,” says McCoy.

• Aaron Plumbing & Heating Company
• Fullford Electric Inc.
• JD Steel Co., Inc.
• Great Northwest, Inc.
• Gundersen Painting, Inc.
• Commercial Contractors, Inc.
• GMW Fire Protection, Inc.
• Siemens Industry, Inc.

ew US Department of Defense, or DOD, cybersecurity standards go into effect in October, which will affect contractors seeking to work on projects with several government agencies, including the US Army Corps of Engineers–Alaska District.

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, or CMMC, is a framework designed to protect sensitive unclassified information that is processed, stored, or transmitted by defense contractors and subcontractors.

When the standards go into effect, contractors and subcontractors will need, at a minimum, Level 1 certification to be eligible for USACE and other DOD projects.

“Overall, the effort to secure government information is to make sure it’s not accidentally released during a cyber attack,” says Ryan Zachry, Small Business Professional for USACE–Alaska District.

CMMC standards have existed since 2021, but the federal government announced the certification mandate last year. The full implementation timeline spans three years. Beginning October 1, Level 1 certification is required for the security of Federal Contract Information, or FCI, whether or not the prospective project includes Controlled Unclassified Information, or CUI.

By October 2026, companies must complete both Level 1 and 2 certifications, which cover both FCI and CUI. And for those who need Level 3 certification to work on highly classified weapons systems or critical CUI, the deadline for completion is October 2027.

Certification is mandatory for all DOD contracts greater than the $10,000 micro-purchase threshold for awards, orders, calls, agreements, and Government Purchase Card transactions. There is an exception to Commercial off-the-shelf purchases. Likewise, contractors and subcontractors already working on DOD and USACE projects are grandfathered; however, they will need certification before they are awarded future projects.

Level 2 and Level 3 certifications pertain to companies dealing with increasingly higher levels of controlled information and, therefore, are more complex. In addition to self-certification, contractors must meet additional criteria outlined on the SPRS website, followed by a verification by a certified third-party assessment organization authorized to conduct CMMC evaluations. Because Level 3 is the advanced level of cyber hygiene, additional steps are required prior to verification by the certified third-party assessment organization and the Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Assessment Center. Zachry says the cost for Level 2 and Level 3 certification is significantly more, due to the need for third-party verification and any additional internal changes in a company’s IT systems to meet compliance requirements. Once implemented, Level 2 and Level 3 certifications require a third-party assessment every three years. In addition, a yearly self-assessment is mandated to ensure the in-place protections are working and being followed.

“The path to certification varies depending on what level of compliance you need,” says Fisher. “For R&M, this means meeting the 110 requirements of NIST Special Publication 800-171 R2. This includes physical and logical protection and policies to ensure CUI is protected at all times within our network and in the physical space where it resides.”

Going into the process, Fisher says R&M had very little understanding of what CMMC requirements were, including what they were trying to safeguard and why. In the process of working toward compliance, they’ve learned that the CMMC requirements, while not trivial, are not overly onerous, and most of the requirements are really just good modern cybersecurity standards. There are pieces that are specific to CUI and FCI and to information storage. For example, companies can’t use commercial cloud storage. Instead, they have to use special DOD-approved cloud storage services to store data in the cloud.

“CUI has been a nebulous idea from the start,” says Fisher. “By definition, it is information that is not classified but still needs to be protected and not shared with the world. Some of this information by itself isn’t CUI; sometimes it becomes CUI when combined with other information. We now have a much better idea of how to identify CUI, most of which will come from the DOD and will be marked in specific ways.”

While much of the work in becoming CMMC certified falls under the responsibilities of R&M’s IT group, Fisher says it is a company-wide initiative. Any department that will create or encounter CUI needs to be involved and trained in procedures to protect CUI. R&M’s IT group is currently working with all departments, including engineering, construction services, geomatics, earth sciences, planning, and business services, to ensure they understand what the users need to work efficiently in this new environment and all departments and employees understand the scope and requirements of CMMC.

Fisher advises companies to get started with the certification process, even if they are already well-aligned with the standards. He says there are a lot of boxes to check, a lot of policies to create, and a fair bit of training for users. Though CMMC may seem daunting at first, it ultimately strengthens a firm’s cybersecurity posture. More importantly, it ensures that it can continue supporting DOD projects while protecting sensitive information critical to national security.

“The biggest hurdle here is time,” says Fisher. “Take a deep breath, and if you don’t have the internal staff to work through this, contract an external firm with experience in NIST requirements to help guide you through this. It is all very doable and comes down to attention to detail.”

Zachry says contractors and subcontractors can find more information on the SPRS website, www.sprs.csd.disa.mil, or they can contact him with questions.

hen Kelly Bond’s sons were young, he’d occasionally take them to work with him. A single father living in Wyoming, he’d spent his life working in sawmills and skidding trees before finally starting his own logging business. Kelly’s sons, Murray and Joe, would tag along, learning their father’s businesses by observation and osmosis.

The Bond family was always close. When elder son Joe relocated to Alaska to study aviation, Murray went with him. Soon, Kelly was following his sons north.

“It seemed like it was good timing,” Kelly reflects. “I just tied up some loose ends in Wyoming, then came up later.”

Since then, Bond Brothers has been the go-to company for land clearing services throughout Alaska. Based in Wasilla, the father and son business clears land for projects from Cordova to Nome, throughout the Kenai Peninsula, and in the Glenallen area.

Anyone who’s headed down to Kenai for fishing or camping this summer has seen the result of Bond Brothers’ work. The company cleared every inch of land necessary for the Cooper Landing Bypass, a project that adds ten miles of new highway north of Cooper Landing, widens shoulders, and adds passing lanes, paths, and wildlife crossings.

Bond Brothers subcontracted for various phases of the Cooper Landing Bypass project. A small company of just three employees—Kelly, Murray, and one steady part-time employee—Bond Brothers brought on several additional temporary employees to operate the company’s fleet of equipment for the Cooper Landing Bypass job.

More recently, Bond Brothers subcontracted to Kiewit for a job clearing timber for a 300-acre runway expansion on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The project, which adds 2,500 feet to bring the runway’s total length to 10,000 feet, is one of the US Army Corps of Engineers–Alaska District’s largest and most significant military construction projects. The work Bond Brothers did on this job was part of a larger effort to move about 12 million cubic yards of material that was in the way of the extension—including a literal mountain.

For Bond Brothers, and for Kiewit, the JBER runway extension was an opportunity to create jobs and bring on additional workers. “The runway extension is a real jobs project,” says Pat Harrison, the Alaska Area manager for Kiewit Infrastructure. “We estimate this project will require over 650,000 craft-hours to complete, which translates to about 156 man-years given the construction schedule.”

Begun in 2022, the project will equip the base to accommodate any Department of Defense aircraft, regardless of weather conditions.

“That was one of my absolute favorite projects,” Kelly says of the Road to Tanana. “I really enjoy the work because you’re out there, hardly anybody to bother you, and you see all kinds of really neat country.”

Kelly spends more time in the office now, doing paperwork. When he’s needed, he still climbs into the cab of the feller buncher and helps clear land. While “the company basically belongs to Murray now,” he says, he envisions the possibility that it might be handed down to Murray’s sons one day.

“The reason I called it ‘Bond Brothers’ is because [my] boys were more interested,” he explains. “They were really involved in setting it up. And naming it that, I knew it would last longer.”